Another bad start to the year

Dear @arpie, Go the Forster Jumping Fleas! I had a look at your youtube link - great singing and instruments. Yes, I can imagine everyone dancing in the aisles to your version of the Creedence song there's a bad moon on the rise. Best wishes for your radiotherapy.

Good luck, @arpie

OK .... I am packing up, ready to go to Port Macquarie tomorrow to start ray treatment on Wed.  We go on to Coffs Harbour next weekend for my husband’s triathlon, then back to Port on the Sunday for the continuing treatment.

I’ll see my GP tomorrow morning (who found my lumps back in Nov) so she can see my progress.

Hmmm .... weird!!  This morning, I wake up and an area around my nipple is very sensitive to the touch!  Almost a burning pain, but no obvious swelling or infection that I can see.  If I raise my arm above my head, I can feel it ‘stretching pain’ too.  Not excruciating or anything .... just annoying!

It is where I believe the knot was tied for the stitches ..... as I can feel 2 ‘sharp bits’ that aren’t big enough to cut.    

I’ll let my breast care nurse in the surgeon’s office know in case they think it is significant.

I’ve been out fishing in my kayak a few times and finding some good fish.  All good fun.

My uke group has been asked to play at the Relay for Life fund raiser here later in the month! What a coincidence, given my recent diagnosis.  It is towards the end of my treatment, so hope I’ll feel up to it.  Then my sister and her hubby will be visiting over Easter which is at the end of my treatment ... she will be in charge of our meals!!  Good trade - accodation for meals!! 

All the best to others who are going thru or starting their rad treaments just now xxxx

@Giovanna_BCNA    @Zoffiel

Thanks guys. REALLY happy the 'beginning of the end' is about to start.  Then, I can get back to some sort of normality again!

 I am off to Port tomorrow for the 1st mapping/planning & another one next week - then my treatment starts on Wed, Feb 28th for 4 weeks!!   Yeehaa!

Yes, I keep looking at all the spots along the northern rivers - one day I will do a road trip & do all of them with my kayak!!    :smiley:

Good on you @arpie There is no point puddling about with this stuff,  get in there and get it over with so you can move on. Boob frying doesn't become a more attractive proposition because you leave it a few weeks, it's not like you can forget about it. Or at least I wasn't able to. 
There are worse places to stay for a couple of weeks, treatment doesn't take long once they get things figured out and you learn how to postion yourself on the table, so you will have time to wander around if you feel like it. Strap the kayak on the roof and head up the river past telegraph point, it's pretty up there.

Hello @arpie,
Great to hear that you have a plan for treatment organised.  Keep up the Ukulele, sounds like great fun!

Hi Ladies

I had my first appointment at Port Macquarie yesterday & will be going back in a day or 2 for mapping.  hehe, I'd never thought of myself as a 'full breasted woman' - but apparently I am!!  LOL  I asked about the Mepitel - and she didn't think it would suit me - I got the impression it suited mastectomy patients rather than lumpectomy patients?

I HOPE to have it started by late Feb or early March, so it be all over by Easter Friday  .... and will still have time to recover from any side effects - possible blistering, tiredness etc, in time for my week in Norfolk Island in April.  

There could be some permanent side effects to the boob texture & even the shape and size of it (cos it cooks it, I guess - but if it cooks the randoms as well - that has to be a good thing, right?)

They talked about me possibly participating in a trial which would eventually help them with minimising treatment for 'new' patients who, like me, the tumours found early, successfully removed & not spread.  However, I would not know if I am being given the 'golden bullet' or a placebo - and if I got the 'real one', it would probably only exacerbate many of my existing conditions - arthritis, aches & pains, vaginal atrophy and worse (and hot flushes would return!) - so basically going thru menopause all over again  (and it is not as if I enjoyed menopause that much the first time - mine started in my mid 40s & lasted 10 years or so!) - and of course, if you DIDN'T have the 'real one' - you'd be worrying about whether it would increase the chances of it coming back again!!   I seriously didn't think it would suit me - so I respectfully declined.   I will be going with the radiation Mon-Fri  for 3 weeks plus a 4 day 'booster' the following week & still have the option to try Tamoxifen (the golden bullet) afterwards ..... So long as it doesn't make me ill - in which case my surgeon has already said to stop it - as it would really only make a minimal difference to my long term survival anyway.

We'll be staying at the Rotary Lodge on the Hospital grounds (a 2 minute walk to the Cancer treatment Unit.)  There is an upfront fee of $175 for the 16 nights/20 treatments and the rest is taken care of by IPTASS.  So $11 a night - bring your own food/drinks - they have basic microwave/jug equipment in the rooms and a full kitchen in a big common room/library/gathering area.  We'll go home on weekends.  I must admit, driving back yesterday, with all the idiot drivers on the road - I would NOT enjoy going up & back, daily, as I am the driver.

SO - I will be having a 'new position' for my treatment - Prone Breast Radiation ... where I will be lying face down on a table with a gap in the top section, with my 'full breasted' boob hanging down (and everything else is tucked away on the table) and the rays  will be doing the work (I guess) from under the table, instead of having it beaming down from above and the side.   This way, there is less chance of the rays hitting the chest/ribs areas where you don't want collateral damage ....  so it makes sense. With the conventional 'table top face up' treatment, the ribs may be 'rayed' & possibly become brittle.  There may also be continual pain in the chest area & and general discomfort - tho this could also still happen with the Prone Breast Radiation as well.  Time will tell.
http://www.igrt.com/breast-therapy.html

I am really pleased with the direction that it is heading - initially she was not 'that' keen to go ahead straight away - she wanted me to go away & think about it & even wait until after my trip to Norfolk Island!! If I had to wait til May - it would have impacted my holiday & seriously 'done my head in' - and my birthday is the end of May & I want it all OVER WITH before then!  🙁   I would NOT be in a good space if I had to wait for treatment.

I am also hoping to get out in my kayak  sometime this week tho it depends when I get the call to go back to Port for the mapping - and I have 2 fishing expeditions lined up in March that I also still hope to be able to participate in as well.

Keep doing what you love, ladies - it will be the best therapy for you!

I just had a blast at the Blue Mountains Ukulele Festival last weekend - 15 of our members (including me) got up & entertained the crowd for 20 mins & we had them dancing in the aisles!!   SO much fun!! 

@Afraser. Don’t give up on the ukulele .... where do you live .... it is one  of my 2 main passions ..... ukulele and kayak fishing!!  If you ever end up near Forster (mid north Coast, NSW) ... google us ... Forster Ukulele Band .... and drop in!!  We have a wonderful ‘older’ mix of uke players who just LOVE IT!!  Feel free to make contact!, 

Here are some of our performances on Vimeo  (we perform at old folks’ homes and many other venues!)
https://vimeo.com/user12132699

Thanks @Julesjourney.  Glad to hear all is going good for you .... hope it continues that way! GO GIRL!!  I will let you know how I go! 

Hey @Romla We Do that song too!   :smiley:  Give it a go ... we have so much fun .... another string in your bow!  Uke is so much fun.  You come away from it with a smile.  Some of my group have had their own breast journey or other cancers ... and are so much stronger for it. Our audience loves our performances ... and we love performing for them.  Xxx

Hi @ Arpie have fun in the Blue Mountains - you remind me of a song from my childhood Ukele Lady.So many people I know play these days and seem to be having such a great time with them.

Hi Arpie. Yes 2 weeks down today, only 1 week plus 2 days to go, all going ok, just a bit pink, some of the Ladies have sunburn, so make sure you put on what the Nurses give you, I have strata x, but others have different stuff for their Radium, each person is different. Hope you have a great weekend at your weekend away. Jules